BBC PM
For the past four years UK Sport has been running a research and innovation department whose aim is to bring the best experts in their field to help elite British performers.
The sporting body has spoken to aerodynamic engineers, textiles experts, ergonomists and a range of other specialists all with the aim of helping Britain win Olympic medals.
This will be the first games at which the influence of these technologists will be shown in the medal table and several sports are hoping UK Sport's assistance will give them a winning edge.
ARCHERY
Since early 2007, the British archery team has been working with biomechanic Oliver Logan to improve their accuracy.
He has been charged with finding technology that allows the archers and coaches to look at what happens to an arrow at the moment it leaves the bow.
Using intense lights and a high-speed camera, the team have been recording their shots and watching them back in slow motion on a laptop, with the aim of ensuring that nothing brushes the arrow on release.
"They [the archers] can adjust the bow; they can increase or reduce the tension, all by just a certain amount of millimetres which can be the difference between a medal and no medal," he said.
CYCLING
Perhaps the greatest exponents of science and technology have been the highly-successful cycling team.
Having won a pannier's worth of medals at the recent world championships, the team are hoping to provide up to a third of all the gold medals that Britain aims to win in Beijing.
Since the 2004 Olympics the bikes have been completed overhauled, with every last detail - from - clothing and bikes to wheels and helmets - turned upside-down, inside-out.
The bike fork that BMX hopeful Shanaze Reade will use in China has, for instance, been completely rebuilt.
The team looked at the best forks that were out there, destroyed them and then built one that was more aerodynamic, 30% stronger and 30% lighter.
Former Olympic gold medallist Chris Boardman, now head of R&D at British Cycling, says the beauty of using experts who don't necessarily know much about sport is that they "don't know how it's meant to be".
Instead, he said, they ask very different questions.
"For example," he said, "I know that handle-bars should be 42cms wide, because they always have been. Someone from the outside will say why? Why do they have to be?"
"When you get stumped for an answer you realise they've asked a new question and then you can go and look if there is an advantage to changing that."
SHOOTING
Double trap shooting - where two clay pigeons are released simultaneously - is all about accuracy and rhythm.
Coaches and competitors are keen to find out what the optimum time is for releasing the second shot, but it happens so quickly that a hand-held stopwatch would not be able to register it accurately.
So defence contractor BAE Systems has devised a simple timing device that measures that time difference.
A microphone in front of the shooter starts a computer clock the instant the first shot is fired, while the sound of the second shot immediately stops the clock. It calculated that the typical time difference was 0.4 seconds.
Former Olympic champion and Beijing hopeful Richard Faulds says the device could be crucial. "The timing is very important. If we can find ways of telling when the timing is perfect or when it's not so good, then we can identify where our problems are and what we need to work on."
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